Shimali Senanayake in Colombo,February 7th, 2006, 10:00 am.
The government's peace team on Tuesday began training in negotiation
skills as they braced for tough talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels set
for Feb. 22, officials said.

Two top conflict experts from the U.S.-based Harvard Negotiation
Project or HNP, will conduct the four-day training program with the
government's main negotiating team and the back-up team, officials
involved in the process said, on condition of anonymity.

The mission of the Harvard Negotiation Project _ created in 1979 _ is
to improve the theory, teaching, and practice of negotiation and
dispute resolution, so that people can deal more constructively with
conflicts ranging from the interpersonal to the international.

The government delegation led by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de
Silva will be briefed on the fundamentals of negotiations during the
round table interactive sessions, the officials said.

The basics of federalism, confederalism, unitary and united will also
be addressed, they said, adding that a knowledge base will be created
to support the international team by local professionals in the field.

Special attention will also be paid to the provisions of the
cease-fire agreement, its violations and sections that need
strengthening.

This is the first time a Sri Lankan delegation has been professionally
trained in negotiations ahead of talks with the Tamil rebels.

The training takes place a day after Norwegian peace brokers clinched
a deal on a date to resume talks that is to focus on strengthening a
fragile cease-fire between the two parties.

The two-day discussions will commence exactly four years after the
parties signed the truce agreement, said Norway's Foreign Ministry.

"The parties are taking a small but very significant step towards
putting the peace process back on a positive track. And we expect the
negotiations to be tough," said Erik Solheim, Norway's minister of
international development.

Solheim, who played a pivotal role in brokering the Feb. 22, 2002
truce, made the announcement after talks with the Tiger's chief
negotiator Anton Balasingham in London on Monday.

"It is very positive that the parties have agreed to meet at high
level to discuss how to improve the serious security situation," he
said.

The cease-fire had faced its toughest test in recent months amid a
wave of violence that reached unprecedented heights in December
killing more than 100 people, at least 80 of them were security
forces. European monitors had warned that if the violence did'nt stop,
the possibility of the island slipping back to war was not far off.

It was in this backdrop that Solheim made a breakthrough with the
parties last month, when they agreed to resume negotiations in Geneva,
Switzerland after a deadlock of nearly three years.

"The parties have chosen Geneva for their meeting because of the very
supportive role Switzerland has always played in the peace process,"
Solheim said.

The parties had requested Norway to facilitate the meeting led by
Solheim, and will include Norway's ambassador to Colombo Hans
Brattskar and former deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen.
Monitoring chief Hagrup Haukland will also participate in the meeting.

The violence in Sri Lanka has dropped significantly after the two
sides agreed to resume talks, although sporadic incidents continue.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, began fighting in 1983
to carve out an independent homeland for the island's 3.2 million
Tamil minority, who claim discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
The fighting killed nearly 65,000 before Norway brokered a cease-fire
in February 2002. But subsequent peace talks collapsed in April 2003
amid rebel demands for wide autonomy in the Tamil-dominated north and
east.

IRNA,february 7.
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said they will not discuss political solution to the island's ethnic conflict during the upcoming talks with Sri Lankan government in Geneva.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Tuesday the two-day talks starting on February 22 in Geneva, Switzerland, would be exclusively to discuss ways of strengthening the truce that went into effect from February 23, 2002, but remains to be fully implemented by both sides.

"The LTTE is not prepared to discuss modifications to the cease-fire or to push the cease-fire aside and waste time talking about a political solution," the Tigers said in an editorial in their official organ 'Vuduthalaippulikal'.
More...Discuss this story

Associated Press,Tue February 7, 2006 06:39 EST .
DILIP GANGULY - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) The Tamil Tiger rebels said Tuesday they will send six delegates to this month's peace talks in Geneva aimed at enforcing a 2002 cease-fire between the government and guerrillas.

Daya Master, spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said the rebel delegation will be led by the group's London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham and assisted by S. P. Thamilselvan, the LTTE's political head.

Representatives from the Sri Lankan government and separatist rebels are scheduled to meet in Geneva Feb. 22-23 to discuss how to improve the implementation of the 2002 cease-fire that was intended to end nearly two decades of war.

Peace talks broke down in April 2003 over the rebels' demands for greater autonomy in the north and east, and sporadic violence has continued across the island ever since. A spike in unrest leading to the deaths of at least 150 people in the past two months has put the truce under yet more strain.

The Geneva talks will focus on LTTE demands that the government disarm other rebel factions whom the Tamil Tigers blame for the latest unrest.

The other members of the delegation include Jeyam, a battle-hardened rebel officer; B. Nadesan, the chief of the LTTE police force; and Ilanthirayan, a former political head in the restive eastern Batticaloa region. Some rebels use only one name.

Balasingham's Australian wife, Adele, will be the secretary. She held the same a role at earlier peace talks.

The government has already named Nimal Siripala de Silva, a senior minister and lawyer, to head its delegation, but other members of the team have yet to be named.

``It is very positive that the parties have agreed to meet at a high level to discuss how to improve the serious security situation,'' Eric Solheim, a Norwegian peace envoy, said in a statement Tuesday.

Solheim will lead a Norwegian delegation at the talks, and will be aided by Norway's Ambassador in Colombo, Hans Brattskar, and former Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen.

The rebels began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for the country's Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. More than 65,000 people died in the war before Norway brokered the 2002 cease-fire.

Some kids suffering in Sri Lankan children's homes, international agency saysAssociated Press,Tue February 7, 2006 05:41 EST .
DILIP GANGULY - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Some orphans and other children living in Sri Lankan children's homes are forced to sleep on floors, have no place to play, suffer physical abuse, and receive no proper counseling, an international children's agency said in a damning report released Tuesday...

COLOMBO DIARY
In the past four years, the international donor community has pledged billions of dollars to Sri Lanka with the aim of promoting peace and economic reform.
And a lot of it has already gone into the country's kitty. Yet, aid has not met its objectives.
The necessary preconditions of peace still do not exist and Sri Lanka continues to be perched precariously on the edge of war.
Why donors failed to bring peace to Sri Lankahindustantimes.com,Monday, February 6, 2006|18:03 IST
.
COLOMBO DIARY
In the past four years, the international donor community has pledged billions of dollars to Sri Lanka with the aim of promoting peace and economic reform...

Security fears hurting Sri Lanka growth - World Banktoday.reuters.com,Feb 6, 2006.
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Security fears in Sri Lanka are slowing investment which in turn will mean the island economy will grow around 4-6 percent in 2006 rather than the 8 percent the government is targeting, the World Bank said on Monday...

US says it will create ``surprises'' in Under 19 cricket World CupAssociated Press,Mon February 6, 2006 00:27 EST .
KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) The United States, still a novice in world cricket, says it is capable of creating ``surprises'' even against formidable opponents when it begins its Under 19 World Cup campaign on Monday...

LTTE band of ‘murderous cutthroats’-Opinionmalaysiakini.com,Feb 6.
Prof P Ramasamy appears to suggest that “indiscriminate killings will be brought to end” if the international community accepts that the LTTE should are allowed to rule over the north and east of Sri Lanka...

LTTE keen on talks to fix Sri Lankan Govthindustantimes.com,Mon 6th Feb 09:00GMT.
Contrary to the general impression that the LTTE is trying to find excuses to avoid going for talks with the Sri Lankan government, the rebel outfit is actually quite keen on having the talks, says a Tamil MP who met the LTTE's political leadership in Kilinochchi on Saturday...